Motor vehicles are equipped with a variety of features that can be personalized, such as seat position, steering-wheel position, interior lighting, radio controls, mirror angles, and touch-screen configuration, among others. Some systems automatically personalize one or more features in response to various detections, such as a door closing or a key being inserted into an ignition. But the earlier the detection of a driver can be made, the more time exists pre-ignition to personalize features.